Sights and sounds from across SouthCoast

Bob Moura is nothing if not persistent. Especially when it comes to his right to vote.

Bob Moura is nothing if not persistent. Especially when it comes to his right to vote.

Moura, 75, and his wife, Sharon, 71, went to four New Bedford polling places — one of them twice — before they eventually were able to cast their ballots.

Election officials could not be reached for comment but the confusion on the part of poll workers apparently resulted from the redistricting that changed precinct boundary lines.

The Mouras began their Election Day journey at the Caroline Apartments where they had voted in the past. From there, they were directed to Carney Academy; from Carney they were sent to the Boys & Girls Club — which in the end sent them back to Carney where they could finally vote.

Moura said he and his wife always vote but by the time they got to Carney for the second time, she was ready to give up.

"One more time," he told her — and that fourth time proved the charm.

Moura conceded he was aggravated, so much so that he went to City Hall to complain at the Election Commission office.

Bristol Community College student Adam Seroussi of Marion was a first-time voter in one of the most important elections in recent history — and he was taking the matter very seriously.

"I've been paying a lot of attention to it," Seroussi, 19, said. "My professor told me that if you're in a poker game, you need to know how to play."

Marion resident Bridgit Hollenhaupt, a teacher at the Rochester Memorial School, said she has followed the presidential and Senate campaigns from the beginning.

"But I became less interested towards the end because there was no focus on the facts. The candidates just started slamming one another," she said at the Veterans of Foreign Wars polling station.

Indeed, Hollenhaupt voiced a longing for the good old days of politics.

"I watched a documentary about Robert Kennedy recently and politicians back then might have disagreed, but they had respect for one another," she said.

The area around Precinct 5 at the Dartmouth Town Hall was busy throughout the day Tuesday — and even busier after 5 p.m. In addition to the large numbers turning out to vote — more than 4,100 are registered in the precinct — town residents flocked to the neighboring Dartmouth High School stadium on Slocum Road.

The high school boys soccer team was in a playoff match that started at 5. And making matters even more interesting there was another athletic contest going on at the Bishop Stang High School athletic field, just a short distance up the road.

Not surprisingly, police were out in force to make sure everyone got to and from the area safe and sound.

If there's one thing that can give poll workers a migraine on Election Day it's a balky ballot box.

That's just what happened at New Bedford's Precinct 5B, the Kennedy Youth Center, where the ballot machine jammed Tuesday afternoon, requiring election workers to shuttle in a replacement machine, said precinct warden Cecilia Sykes.

While the machine was down, voters slid their ballots into a box at the front of the machine, said Sykes, and when the new machine was in place, poll workers fed all those ballots into it.

As was the case throughout most of SouthCoast, voter turnout was heavy in Precinct 5B: By about 4:20 p.m., almost 750 voters — or about half of the precinct's voters — had already cast ballots, and there was still a steady stream of voters coming through the doors.

By 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, almost 5,500 Lakeville residents — or about 75 percent of the registered voters — had already cast ballots and more were still in line.

In addition to voting for president, senator and congressman, Lakeville voters were weighing in on the 12th Bristol District race, with Republican Keiko Orrall, a town resident, looking to fend off a challenge from Democrat Roger Brunelle of Middleboro.

Jan Tracy, Lakeville's town clerk, said she had expected a good turnout — the 2008 election drew about 83 percent — but the polls were even a bit busier than she was expecting.

Precinct 9 at the Padanaram Fire Station in Dartmouth was all hustle and bustle.

"I can't believe the traffic we've had. It has been so constant, so busy all day long," said Brian Hawes, precinct warden.

Hawes said three voters were already waiting outside the polling place at 6:30 a.m., a half hour before the doors were to open. With a cold wind blowing, Hawes took pity on them and invited them inside to warm up.

When the clock struck 7 and Hawes officially opened the doors, he said he was shocked at the number of people outside waiting.

"The line was out the door, across the parking lot and down the street," he said.